Less than 48 hours before the Christmas lights are switched on, 72 for the derby between Seville and Betis and in view of celebrations that bring together thousands of people around parades, Christmas markets, attractions and other activities related to the Christmas holidays – as well as other events, processions or concerts on the sidelines -, the Municipality of Seville has not approved the Christmas Plan that guarantees the safety of all these events. and overtime pay for city officials. The negotiations between the City Council and the representatives of the Local Police are interrupted. The PP government team will face the first crucial test this Wednesday with an extraordinary plenary session, forced by Vox, its budget partner, to approve this plan in addition to lifting the objection to the intervention which warned that the entire credit intended for the payment of overtime was exhausted in April and that all payments for this concept from May to October this year “suffer from legal cover”. However, police unions have already warned that if the vote goes ahead, they will appeal urgently because this plan has not been negotiated with them.
“We don’t trust this mayor,” says Luis Val, president of the Seville Municipal Police Union, the sector’s majority, about the way security for the Christmas period is being addressed by Seville’s city councilor, the popular José Luis Sanz. “We will not work harder without having budgetary capacity because then the problems come”, he adds, to remind that he is still entitled to part of the extraordinary work done during Easter and the 2024 Fair and also the 2022 UEFA final.
The disagreement between the two parties lies in the duration and amount of this Christmas plan. According to the scheme proposed by the City Council, weekends and holidays between November 28 and December 21 are recognized as special days, extending this consideration to all days between January 22 and 7, allocating 5.6 million euros for this purpose. But the Local Police asks that the same amount as last year be invested, around eight million, and that all those between next Friday and December 7th be considered special days. “It is convenient for the Consistory to have the local police on weekends, which is when there is more work, but during the week it does not want there to be a plan, to save money, but on those days there are many events scheduled, especially in the afternoon, which is why we want a continuous plan, because we are not a fried egg when it is convenient, we have to reinforce the units, reorganize…”, says Santiago Raposo, CSIF delegate in the Local Police of Seville.
The City Council has allocated a sum of 5.6 million euros for the Christmas Plan, for which it is necessary to make a budget change. Also the recognition of credit for the payment of productivity, extraordinary performance and other notions of the calendar of the Local Police and Fire Brigade, to overcome the objection of the Intervention. Some points that were initially on the agenda of last week’s ordinary plenary session, but which the municipal team withdrew when they realized that they would not have the support of, at least, Vox, the PP’s financial partner in the City Council, where it governs in a minority. These two points were reserved for the extraordinary plenary session convened for this Wednesday, in a tribute to the far-right party that will be able to claim credit for having saved Seville’s Christmas.
“We have a Christmas Plan which is the same as last year, which also included the Magna procession, so eliminating it now represents an economic and effective saving. The elimination of the second week of February was also foreseen, two parts of the calendar which allowed for savings”, warns Val. In the background, as usual every time the Municipality faces moments of the season with a large concentration of activities, such as Easter, Fair or Christmas, there is the lack of staff and budgetary allocations to support the extraordinary expenses that this security coverage entails. Added to these are the proliferation of other smaller events, such as extraordinary processions, concerts, summits like the one at the United Nations this summer… which also require troops with impoverished human and economic resources. “The Municipality was aware that it had no money, but it was unable to say no to holding demonstrations and this implies the need for more police and more money, when we have been working without a budget since May”, summarizes Raposo.
Sanz assured this Tuesday, precisely on the occasion of the celebration of the day of the patron saint of the Local Police, San Clemente, that “the Local Police will have all the support and backing” of his Government, but with two limitations: budget availability and the law. “Not even the mayor of Seville is above the law,” he said, referring to the industrial conflict over the Christmas Plan. If Vox fixes the mess this Wednesday, the unions have already warned they will urgently appeal the decision, although they could not refuse to operate from this Friday, despite the urgency for the organisation.
